'I can't really believe it': Canadian snowboarder Liam Gill making Olympic debut as last-minute replacement
CBC
Liam Gill's crazy week is only now just starting to sink in.
It was just four days before Friday's opening ceremony that the 18-year-old Canadian snowboarder found out he would be competing at the Beijing Olympics.
Originally selected as an alternate on the Olympic team, Gill was announced as the halfpipe replacement for veteran Derek Livingston on Jan. 31 after the two-time Olympian suffered an injury during a training run.
With less than 24 hours to get ready for the team flight, the Calgary native had to quickly shift his mindset and start preparing for the biggest moment of his career after initially thinking he would not even be flying with the team to Beijing.
"It's been, like, a week and it's slowly sinking in; I can't really believe it. It's pretty crazy and surreal," said Gill, who will make his Olympic debut with the qualifying runs Wednesday afternoon in Beijing (Tuesday at 11:30 p.m. ET).
Gill said the news initially brought mixed emotions, as Livingston is more than just a teammate to him.
"Derek has been a mentor of mine the past two years, and he has kind of brought me through the halfpipe scene. Every time I learn a trick he's there," Gill told CBC Sports. "When I heard about that, I didn't think 'oh, I've got an Olympic spot.' I was like, 'damn, my friend just broke his leg.'"
Gill said he has received an overwhelming amount of support from friends and family since the news broke, and now he is just looking forward to making them proud on the Olympic stage.
Gill has always wanted to be an Olympian, but his aspirations were fuelled when he first represented Canada at the 2020 Winter Youth Olympics in Switzerland.
"That was also a really awesome experience," Gill said. "Just getting a taste of the Youth Olympics was like 'I want to go to the real one.'"
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Gill is the second-youngest member of Canada's snowboarding contingent behind 16-year-old Brooke D'Hondt — the youngest Canadian Olympian in Beijing.
The three-time Olympic gold medallist known as the "The Flying Tomato" made his Games debut in 2006 when Gill was just three years old. He holds the record for the most gold medals by a snowboarder at both the Olympics and X Games, having topped the Olympic halfpipe podium in 2006, 2010 and 2018.
Gill already knows how special it is to compete against the superstar.
